Your high school Spanish students have been extremely excited about a recent project in your class. Students have been writing scripts and acting out “commercials” in Spanish for imaginary products. You have recorded the commercials on a digital camcorder and uploaded the videos to YouTube. The response has been very positive to these videos, and several students have uploaded them to their personal MySpace pages and blogs to share them with friends.
However, one of your students, Olivia, just forwarded you a comment written in response to one of the videos in which she participated and asks for help translating. The comment is in Spanish and contains several sexual references and curse words. When Olivia clicks on the commenter's username to find out more about the person, she sees videos with sexual content. What do you tell your students about the comment and what Olivia saw, and how do you advise them to respond?
Brainstorming Possible Solutions
Did the comment appear on the YouTube video that the teacher uploaded? In that case, the teacher should remove it and report it immediately, right? Or did the comment appear on one of Olivia's social network pages? I guess that's the first question I would ask the student since the scenario does not give us that information. (Though it does say she did click and saw sexual videos...so maybe we can assume the comment took place on YouTube.)
Also, the scenario suggests that the teacher should turn this into a "teachable" moment to the rest of the class. However, I see some problems with this. Olivia may be embarrassed and may only want the teacher to help her individually; she may be afraid that other students will keep harping on the comments. In this case, one of my thoughts is that the teacher keep the situation anonymous; however, knowing high school kids, everyone will know anyway. (Megan)
I think you are correct in addressing the where the comments were posted to. If they are connected to the video the teacher uploaded the link / video should be taken down by the teacher. If it is from a social post then it is more about helping Olivia make an informed and appropriate decision.
Teachable moment this is not. I think there is way too much potential for this to go viral and negative against Olivia. For this reason I suggest the following action by the teacher:
Contact the administration and quietly review options. Teacher chatter grabs this and it will get into the student body. The admin will want to know about this and how it is being handled before it goes viral. Best to keep them close and get the target off the teacher should this turn into a news item.
Meet with the student and review in a factual manner what is being said in the commentary. Indicate that the video has been taken down or that if it is Olivia's site that she take it down immediately. Take this moment to review the grade this project will receive. Establishing that the project grade has zero connection to the commentary will establish this as a non-grading issue. Certainly if the project was well done also reinforce what a nice job she did on her project so that she feels supported during this awkward situation.
If the teacher is a man they MUST contact the administration and counselor. The counselor will also appreciate a "heads-up" should this student go there next . . social drama. This situation has big red flashing DANGER sign all over it. For any male teacher working with a female student in a video situation that is posted to a public forum that contains sexual comments . . . this is dynamite. One twist in how the story is told and the school and teacher spend the next year setting the record straight. This is a nightmare scenario.
For the class. I hope there was commentary training before the students began this project. Students that are required to post content to the web for class either in or out of school are subject to the school's rules. If students are posting comments on the teacher's post, Olivia's video, that are offensive the can and should be held accountable. I have my admin certificate and school law is pretty clear about students posting things out of school but that have a clear connection back to school homework.
For future projects it may be good idea of how to handle inappropriate comment in general. When to delete? When to block? When to report to YouTube as abusive? (Scott)
Where does contacting the parent (whether Olivia's or a possible student offender's) fit in with the chosen response below? Maybe one of you guys can add that? I did add some of that but not sure if it's quite right yet...Also, I'm not sure what we should say about addressing the class about this issue, since the scenario asks us to but I'm with Scott in that I don't think I really would besides making sure the scenario remains anonymous if I do. I would assume the teacher would have addressed that kind of behavior and what to do prior to letting the students know he/she was posting the videos to YouTube. What do you guys think? What else are we missing at this point? (Megan)
I would absolutely agree with you. The comment definitely needs to be removed if you can remove it as it is tied to student work and Scott and I second what you are saying about getting an administrator involved.
Of course we wouldn't want to bring Olivia into it, but clearly there are many other students involved here who probably were also impacted. If the comment went to everyone's email then it would definitely be an issue that would need to be addressed.
I would say we should use our teacher sense to feel out the situation about how many people know about this. If this is on a school related technology then we are probably going to need to address it with multiple students. Quietly is ideal, but it is probably all through the class at this point.
I would definitely involve the tech director too to try to find out the commenter was. If it is a stranger there is nothing we can do, but if it is a student there can be disciplinary action taken. (Matt)
Chosen Response
1. Contact a principal, guidance counselor, and the tech director ASAP about the issue (forward them whatever Olivia forwarded) and review how to handle it safely and how to best approach Olivia. Perhaps one or more of them would want to be present when addressing Olivia about the comment and the next steps.
2. The teacher should make a plan to address the situation. They should contact the parents by phone to explain what has happened, how it will be dealt with, and how the grade will be handled. Parents always want to know about the grade. The admin will be waiting for a follow-up call from the parents but the teacher should make the first and speedy contact with the parents. I think the parents will be mostly worried about the content their daughter was exposed to and what is going to happen to the kids who did this to her if it was a student at the school.
3. Privately and immediately ask Olivia, even if that means calling her out of another class, if the comment she forwarded showed up on YouTube or on one of her social media pages. Ask Olivia if she understands the comment. Explain/confirm to Olivia that the comment did in fact contain inappropriate content; if she's a mature enough student, even go as far as to show her the English translation to make a point that people are willing to say anything behind a computer screen. Explain that the next best step is to remove the comment right away so it does not become a permanent fixture on the internet or a hot topic on social media.
4. Scenario A: If the comment appeared on YouTube, the teacher will remove the video and proceed with a teachable moment to Olivia. The two could sit down together (perhaps with parents and administration if possible); Olivia can witness the teacher remove the comment and report the YouTube user responsible for the comment.
Scenario B: While the school cannot force Olivia to remove a comment from one of her own pages, the teacher, administration, and hopefully Olivia's parents will help Olivia make an informed choice to remove the comment and continue to keep an eye on them in the future.
Note: If the comment was posted by a student in Olivia's Spanish class or in the school, that student will have to be given the appropriate consequences and meet with the teacher and administration/guidance discussing proper conduct, and meet with Olivia for an apology. The offender's parents must be notified immediately and should be shown a copy, time, and date of the comment.
No matter the actual scenario, Olivia should be commended for bringing this to the teacher's attention so quickly and she should know that the situation will certainly not affect her grade; she did the right thing and she's a great role model for other students when addressing inappropriate internet usage.
5. How to address the class:
Scenario A: Most students do not know about the comment and it isn't being talked about - Do not openly tell all the students about the comment Olivia noticed. A social rumor or chatter is created when people make a big deal out of a simple solution. By suddenly jumping on this topic the students will know something is up. Do not give this issue "legs" and let this event just die off. Prior to the next comment posting assignment it would be good to review acceptable and supportive comments on the web. The teacher should have already addressed the class when uploading the videos to YouTube about what to do if they see an inappropriate comment and being careful/keeping tabs in regard to the videos they post on social media. The teacher could use Olivia's situation as a teachable example to future classes, keeping her identity anonymous of course.
Scenario B: Everyone knows about it and is talking about it. If everyone knows about it and is talking, which is how things can often be in small schools, I would take the issue on in a class discussion. Why people feel the need to be trolls and hurt other people. The topic could be digital safety and responsibility. We also could talk about the benefits and negatives of technology, especially if there are a lot of kids upset about it.
Home > Group C Workspace > Learning Activity 7-C-2: Megan, Matt, Scott
Scenario C: High School Videos
Your high school Spanish students have been extremely excited about a recent project in your class. Students have been writing scripts and acting out “commercials” in Spanish for imaginary products. You have recorded the commercials on a digital camcorder and uploaded the videos to YouTube. The response has been very positive to these videos, and several students have uploaded them to their personal MySpace pages and blogs to share them with friends.
However, one of your students, Olivia, just forwarded you a comment written in response to one of the videos in which she participated and asks for help translating. The comment is in Spanish and contains several sexual references and curse words. When Olivia clicks on the commenter's username to find out more about the person, she sees videos with sexual content. What do you tell your students about the comment and what Olivia saw, and how do you advise them to respond?
Brainstorming Possible Solutions
Chosen Response
1. Contact a principal, guidance counselor, and the tech director ASAP about the issue (forward them whatever Olivia forwarded) and review how to handle it safely and how to best approach Olivia. Perhaps one or more of them would want to be present when addressing Olivia about the comment and the next steps.
2. The teacher should make a plan to address the situation. They should contact the parents by phone to explain what has happened, how it will be dealt with, and how the grade will be handled. Parents always want to know about the grade. The admin will be waiting for a follow-up call from the parents but the teacher should make the first and speedy contact with the parents. I think the parents will be mostly worried about the content their daughter was exposed to and what is going to happen to the kids who did this to her if it was a student at the school.
3. Privately and immediately ask Olivia, even if that means calling her out of another class, if the comment she forwarded showed up on YouTube or on one of her social media pages. Ask Olivia if she understands the comment. Explain/confirm to Olivia that the comment did in fact contain inappropriate content; if she's a mature enough student, even go as far as to show her the English translation to make a point that people are willing to say anything behind a computer screen. Explain that the next best step is to remove the comment right away so it does not become a permanent fixture on the internet or a hot topic on social media.
4. Scenario A: If the comment appeared on YouTube, the teacher will remove the video and proceed with a teachable moment to Olivia. The two could sit down together (perhaps with parents and administration if possible); Olivia can witness the teacher remove the comment and report the YouTube user responsible for the comment.
Scenario B: While the school cannot force Olivia to remove a comment from one of her own pages, the teacher, administration, and hopefully Olivia's parents will help Olivia make an informed choice to remove the comment and continue to keep an eye on them in the future.
Note: If the comment was posted by a student in Olivia's Spanish class or in the school, that student will have to be given the appropriate consequences and meet with the teacher and administration/guidance discussing proper conduct, and meet with Olivia for an apology. The offender's parents must be notified immediately and should be shown a copy, time, and date of the comment.
No matter the actual scenario, Olivia should be commended for bringing this to the teacher's attention so quickly and she should know that the situation will certainly not affect her grade; she did the right thing and she's a great role model for other students when addressing inappropriate internet usage.
5. How to address the class:
Scenario A: Most students do not know about the comment and it isn't being talked about - Do not openly tell all the students about the comment Olivia noticed. A social rumor or chatter is created when people make a big deal out of a simple solution. By suddenly jumping on this topic the students will know something is up. Do not give this issue "legs" and let this event just die off. Prior to the next comment posting assignment it would be good to review acceptable and supportive comments on the web. The teacher should have already addressed the class when uploading the videos to YouTube about what to do if they see an inappropriate comment and being careful/keeping tabs in regard to the videos they post on social media. The teacher could use Olivia's situation as a teachable example to future classes, keeping her identity anonymous of course.
Scenario B: Everyone knows about it and is talking about it. If everyone knows about it and is talking, which is how things can often be in small schools, I would take the issue on in a class discussion. Why people feel the need to be trolls and hurt other people. The topic could be digital safety and responsibility. We also could talk about the benefits and negatives of technology, especially if there are a lot of kids upset about it.